Paris-Roubaix is probably the best-known of all the one-day Classic
races, and for good reason: the "Hell of the North" takes
riders over 26 brutally difficult sections of pavé,
or cobbles, along its 260-kilometer (161-mile) route. The cyclists
themselves typically either love it or hate it: Tour de France legend
Bernard Hinault famously hated it so much that he avoided it like the
plague, only to finally give in and race it a single time – and
win, thereby giving him the pleasure of saying he'd faced down
Paris-Roubaix and come off the victor. For today's elite Classics
riders, though, the predominant attitude toward Paris-Roubaix is one
of reverence and anticipation. It's in many ways the hardest race on
the spring calendar, one that always has some nasty surprises in
store, and it's one that riders come back to year in and year out,
eager to get that prestigious win.

2004's edition of Paris-Roubaix looks
special right from the start. The field is chock-full of high-class
contenders, making it hard to pick a pre-race favorite. The
"sentimental favorite" is of course three-time winner
Johann Museeuw, who at age 39 is finally finishing out his last
season as a pro rider. Don't be fooled by his age or impending
retirement, though: the "Lion of Flanders" still has plenty
of roar left. Also riding on Museeuw's QuickStep team is young Tom
Boonen, winner of Ghent-Wevelgem
and a force to be reckoned with. Last
year's winner Peter Van Petegem is eager to pull a repeat
victory, but he's not the only challenger to the QuickStep blue
machine: Steffen Wesemann is coming off his recent Tour
of Flanders victory with an excellent show of form. Then there's
US Postal's George Hincapie, who with two fourth-place finishes is
gunning for the first-ever US win of this Classic. And that's not
even mentioning the many other contenders for the victory... in
Paris-Roubaix, anything can happen, and usually does.

After an interesting ten minutes or so
of pre-race interviews from Paul Sherwen, the race gets off to a
slam-bang start with lots of attacking action right from the very
beginning. World Cycling Productions' four-hour coverage of the race
is spot-on for this edition, as it's full of interesting action from
start to finish. Several early attacks keep the peloton on its toes,
but uncharacteristically, a fairly large group manages to stay
together, with all the major candidates in play. The famous Forest of
Arenberg section is where the key moves usually happen, and it's
indeed significant here, except that this year things don't quite
turn out as expected, and the attacks and counter-attacks continue
and even heat up more as the race travels closer and closer to the
finish in Roubaix.

Paris-Roubaix has really grown on me
over the years. The cobbled sections do a lot to mix things up, but
more than that, the race seems to encourage and reward aggressive
riding as well as persistence. We get to see both, in spades, in the
2004 edition of the race. A late breakaway group consisting of George
Hincapie, Tristan Hoffman, Fabian Cancellara, Johann Museuuw, Roger
Hammond, and Magnus Backstedt showcases brilliant hard riding, and
Museeuw's unfortunately timed flat tire emphasizes the vagaries of
fortune in this race. But along with Peter Van Petegem and Steffen
Wesemann, Museeuw makes a final determined bid to catch up with the
escapees. In the end, we're treated to a tense battle to the Roubaix
velodrome followed by a thrilling sprint finish. The 2004
Paris-Roubaix is certainly one of the most exciting and satisfying
editions of this great race.

The
DVD

The 2004 Paris-Roubaix race appears on two DVDs, neatly packaged in
an attractive single-wide plastic keepcase.

Video

The image quality for the 2004 Paris-Roubaix race is excellent,
despite all the challenges inherent in getting decent footage of a
race that speeds over winding, dusty roads. The image, which is
presented in its original broadcast aspect ratio of 1.33:1, is clean
and free of any noise or print flaws. Some picture breakup is
present, but this comes unavoidably from the source material, and
actually there are very few instances of interference. Colors are
bright and natural-looking throughout the race footage, and the
picture is generally quite sharp and detailed.

Audio

The Dolby 2.0 soundtrack for the race offers a clean and satisfactory
listening experience. The overall sound is clear, with the
environmental sounds like shouting fans or beeping cars balanced well
with the commentary track. The only fault that I'd find in the
soundtrack is that partway through the second disc, the volume of
Paul Sherwen's comments dips considerably, although Phil Liggett's
stay at a normal volume. It's still possible to hear Sherwen,
fortunately, but I was glad when, a bit later, his voice returned to
its regular level. All in all, it's a quite satisfactory soundtrack.

Extras

Little by little, World Cycling Productions is starting to put more
special features on at least some of its discs, which is a nice
direction for it to be going in. As with the other DVDs of the 2004
Classics, the cover insert for the Paris-Roubaix race has the
complete start list for the race printed on the inside, visible
through the clear plastic case. It's a handy reference for viewers.

On Disc 1, selecting the "Extra Stuff" link starts up a
four-minute behind-the-scenes featurette. It's an odd assemblage of
footage that includes some glimpses of the scene at the race start on
the day before the race, some amusing outtakes of Paul Sherwen
fooling around (unaware that the camera was running) and Phil Liggett
flubbing his introductory lines, miscellaneous footage of the streets
of what is probably Roubaix, and some random shots from the race
finish that didn't make it into the final cut.

On both Disc 1 and Disc 2, we also get some promotional information
on Paris-Roubaix and Tour de France
merchandise offered by WCP, a static image of the other 2004 Classics
DVDs (at least reminding viewers that there are other races
available), and a four-minute promotional clip for Cycle Sport
Magazine, hosted by Paul Sherwen. It's the same segment that has
appeared on other DVDs, but it's cute if you haven't seen it before.

The overall menu and chapter design is excellent. The cover art for
the discs features interesting images that aren't terrible spoilers,
and the menus are simple and easy to navigate. The chapter menu is
very usefully broken down by individual sections of pavé (one
sector per chapter): even more helpful is the descriptive title for
each chapter, which lists the number of kilometers left to race, the
location name for that sector, and the length in meters of the pavé
sector.

Final
thoughts

The
difficult course of Paris-Roubaix, taking the riders over 26 separate
cobbled sections along the back roads of France and Belgium, usually
makes for an interesting race. In the 2004 edition of "The Hell
of the North," we're treated to an especially exciting race,
with the riders constantly attacking and counter-attacking as they
strive to take home this prestigious victory. This DVD is a must-buy
for any serious fan of the Classics, and what's more, it's an
excellent starting point for any viewer who's intrigued by the pro
bicycle racing scene. Highly recommended for both current fans and
new viewers.